The Orioles have shuffled their rotation again, and the move buys them a little breathing room in the middle of a grind that has stretched to 16 straight games without an off day.
Cade Povich got the ball last night, which pushed Kyle Bradish back to tonight and Trevor Rogers to Wednesday afternoon. That extra rest matters this late in the season, especially with Bradish coming off two rough outings.
Against the Yankees, he gave up three earned runs and five total on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. In St.
Louis, it got uglier: seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. His ERA has climbed from 3.65 to 4.03.
Even with the recent dip, Bradish is still working through a big workload after missing most of 2024-25 because of an elbow injury that required reconstructive surgery. Tonight will be his 27th start of the season. His career high is 30, set in 2023, when he finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting.
What happens with the rest of the rotation remains unsettled. The Orioles could go with six starters, move Povich to the bullpen or option him.
They can add an extra pitcher today with the expanded roster, and outfielder Luis Robert Jr. is expected to be the new position player. Manager Craig Albernaz said in Denver yesterday that using six starters is TBD and “on the table.”
A reliever could also come up and still leave room for another starter.
One arm that will not be part of the mix just yet is Félix Bautista. He needs more work before the Orioles bring him back from the injured list.
Bradish does have one eye-popping strength to lean on against Colorado: he has allowed only two earned runs in the first inning this season, good for a 0.69 ERA that ties Kevin Brown in 1995 for the lowest by an Oriole since 1976 in a minimum 25 outings. Bradish also posted a 0.90 first-inning ERA in 2023.
Wayne Garland had a 1.05 ERA in 1976, and Rogers turned in a 1.08 last season. According to STATS, Bradish could become the second player in the last 50 years to put together multiple seasons with a sub-1.00 ERA in the first inning in a minimum 25 innings, joining Gio Gonzalez in 2015 and 2018.
He also has one prior start against the Rockies, and it went well: two runs in six innings in 2023 at Camden Yards.
The Orioles’ waiver claim of Luis Robert Jr. tells its own story. They were sellers at the deadline, but they still believed they could absorb the departures of Adley Rutschman, Taylor Ward, Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer and stay in the Wild Card chase.
Taking on the $4.89 million left on Robert’s contract, including a $2 million buyout, doesn’t look like a surrender. It looks like a push.
He gives the lineup another right-handed bat, and he has hit .285/.359/.497 against left-handers. He also deepens the bench, whether he stays there or nudges someone else into a reserve role.
And if it doesn’t work, the Orioles can move on without giving up prospects.
There have been some individual bright spots too. Colton Cowser started last night slugging .581 in August after slugging .103 in July.
That 478-point jump was the third largest in team history for consecutive months with a minimum 50 plate appearances, per STATS. The top two are Dick Brown in 1964, when he went from .207 in July to .889 in August for a .682-point increase, and Jim Gentile in 1961, who jumped from .442 in June to .930 in July for a .487 increase.
Behind Cowser on the list are Aubrey Huff in 2007 with a .465 increase from July to August and Charles Johnson in 1999 with a .452 rise from April to May.
Blaze Alexander was batting .331 against right-handers before last night, trailing only Yordan Álvarez (.337) among players with at least 150 plate appearances. That .331 mark would be the highest by an Oriole against right-handers in a season with a minimum 150 plate appearances since Brian Roberts in 2005, when he hit .332.
Two more nuggets from Sunday still stand out. Gunnar Henderson became just the second major league shortstop in the expansion era to record at least four hits, two homers and a triple in one game. The only other one was Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., who did it on April 13, 1991 in Texas.
And Coby Mayo added another power note, hitting his sixth three-run homer of the season to tie the Yankees’ Ben Rice for the most in the American League. Mayo’s six are the most by an Oriole in a season since Renato Nuñez hit seven in 2019.
The Orioles are also teaming up again with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund for their annual “Law Enforcement Appreciation Nights” on Sept. 8-9. Tickets for the games against the Guardians start at a discounted rate of $16.50, with $10 going to NLEOMF.
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